Tried by a New England eye, or the more practical wisdom of modern times, they are the oracles of a race already in its dotage; bu...t held up to the sky, which is the only impartial and incorruptible ordeal, they are of a piece with its depth and serenity, and I am assured that they will have a place and significance as long as there is a sky to test them by.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

As usual I finish the day before the sea, sumptuous this evening beneath the moon, which writes Arab symbols with phosphorescent s...treaks on the slow swells. There is no end to the sky and the waters. How well they accompany sadness!LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

You mustn't give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the w...oods or fly into a tree. And then to a higher tree. And then to the sky.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Usually the scenery about them is drear and savage enough; and the logger's camp is as completely in the woods as a fungus at the ...foot of a pine in a swamp; no outlook but to the sky overhead; no more clearing than is made by cutting down the trees of which it is built, and those which are necessary for fuel.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Earth has not anything to show more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass by...A sight so touching in its majesty:This city now doth, like a garment, wearThe beauty of the morning; silent, bare,Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lieOpen unto the fields and to the sky;All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

This city now doth, like a garment, wearThe beauty of the morning; silent bare,...Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lieOpen unto the fields and to the sky;All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

It was like being quite alone on the roof of the world. I felt that if I were to go to the edge and look over ... I would see belo...w all that I had ever known; all the crowded cities and seas covered with ships, and the clamor of harbors and traffic of rivers, and farmlands being worked, and herds of cattle driven in dust across interminable plains. All the clamor and clatter, confusion of voices, tumults, and conflicts, must still be going on, down there--over the edge, and below--but here there was only the sky, and a stillness made audible by the brittle grass. Emptiness was so perfect all around me that I felt a part of it, empty myself ...LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »